CONVICT LIFE AT PORT ARTHUR.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 735, 18 August 1852, Page 4

CONVICT LIFE AT PORT ARTHUR.

The Nation of Saturday has a letter from Mr. O'Donogboe, one of the persons sentenced to death for participating in the Irish rebellion of 1848, but who with the other convicted leaders, was transported for life. He received a " ticket of leave" on his arrival in Australia ; but, having broken bounds he was sent for three months to the chain-gangs at Port Arthur. The unhappy man gives the following account of his sufferings while undergoing this punishment : — " The entire number of convicts at this station of P_ort Arthur was 300. These were divided into gangs o? about 60 each, with v two overseers over each gang. I was placed in the gang called the ".agricultural gang," at task work. The 300 men slept in a long, narrow, low-roofed shed, called dromitory, their beds or berths, or places of sleeping, are called " bunks." There are two tiers of them, one over another — the bunks being separated by mere laths — each bunk is merely the length and breadth of a man — yotl must crawl in on hands and feet, roll yourself ' iv a filthy rug

and blanket, alive with vermin, and there sle^H if you con. A clean pigsty in any part of Irela^H is preferable to a Port Arthur bunk: Having c™H into this loathsome hovel, nothing but oath^J imprecations, and obscenity meet the ear fr°^| the wretched companions around, and betwe^J these sounds, the darkness of the den, and l^M torture of all sorts of vermin, it was truly earthly hell. It was summer when I was there^J nine o'clock was the hour for retiring to IIH place of rest, and four o'clock, was the hour rising. A bell rang at four, and you were allo<H ed five minutes to dress, fold your rug, and swe^J out your ' bunk* The 300 men were march<^J rank and file two deep, to a cistern to wash ; a^J here men, with inveterate ophthalmia on the ey^H ulcerated legs ana arms, and' all manner of <^M seases, performed indiscriraately their morni^J ablutions. This process lasted half an hou^J the gangs again mustered rank and file undH their overseer's orders, and were marched to th^H respective places of worship ; prayers lasted h^J an hour, and at five o'clock the gangs again weH mustered and marched rank and file, two deeH through the outer gate of the prison, where t^M superintendent-and muster-master stood and cti^M ed out every man's name, to which an answ^H should be given, accompanied by a salute. T^J gangs were then marched to their work, and ea^J man was at his daily labour by half-past fiH o'clock in the morning. We worked till eiglH and were marched in to breakfast, when we g<^| some coarse brown bread and a pint of skilljH Skilly is made of coarse flour and water withoH salt. After breakfast we mustered again, aiH were marched back to our work, where we coiH tinued till twelve o'clock ; then we were marcheH to dinner, when we got some coarse broth anH bread, with a very few ounces of very bad meH — mustered again, and marched to work till siH o'clock — brought to prison again, rank anfl file — general muster — names called over — stooH in columns with legs bare and uncovered (thH was the most insulting and degrading scene in tIH vile discipline, it was quite unmanly) — got somw brown bread and skilly — to prayers at half-past six, prayed till seven — then to school — remained at school till eight, listening to atrocious recitals of crimes of every* enormity — after Bchool to the •bunks.'^ " This is a short account of one day's life at Port Arthur — multiply it by 97, and you will form a sort of estimate of what I had to endure. During the early part of my time, I was kept sowing corn, digging ground and sowing vegetables. It was broiling hot weather, and to be' kept 14 hours out of every 24, standing under a blazing sun, was bard enough. I remember one day being marched eight miles into the bush with a scythe to cut down grass, tie it up, load a bullock dray with it, and then walk eight miles back, and never taste food or drink all the while. I presume the Whig press will call this ' merciful treatment' of an Irish rebel. During the latter days of my sentence I was put to besom making. This was considered a sinecure 1 " "While undergoing'my besom making probation I bad to go into the bush at half-past five o'clock in the morning with a sickle in my hand, cut down a load of ' cutting grass 1 tie it up carry it three miles on my back to a hut, then cut down New Zealand flax, split it, make twisted gads of it, then sit down and make 24 besoms, tie them up and carry them on my back, and deliver them to the store- keeper ; and if I were one short of that number I should go into the black hole for solitary confinement. This was the most dangerous work that could be invented for me, because every time -that 1 put my hand among the tufts or tissocks of cutting grass, I was in danger of being bittern by a snake, and yet it was a sinecure."